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Peyton Evans

Mrs. Knox

English 11

10 December 2018

Argumentative Essay

Around 50% of people of all races are opposed to capital punishment or known as the

“death penalty”. In my opinion, I strongly believe that the death penalty is not an effective way

for crime. First, over $9 million is used per year just to spend money on someone who we

taxpayers don’t even know. This causes more people to pay for the taxes due to how pricey this

procedure may be. Secondly, as you progress to see how the criminal justice system works, you

see that using this tactic as a deterrent does nothing, but fails for the system. The murder rates for

these actions increase almost half. Finally, if you are mentally unstable then you don’t really

have any sort of say when it comes to being found guilty, then being sent to be executed. Many

people see these people almost an incompetent to understand what would be going on around

them.

The capital punishment or “death penalty” has caused millions of dollars to be wasted.

For example, trials for three Washington County murder cases cost more than $1.5 million. One

was sentenced to death. The two others, one of whom was found guilty of four murders, are not

on death row. We are paying around $9 million per year for the death penalty due to all the

prosecution and defense costs. Although, some people believe many prisoners deserve the death

sentence, the costs are much more higher than before. On average, each prisoner who is on death

row can range from $31,000-60,000 in costs. These are so expensive due to the complexity of the
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trials and the number of defenses that are needed. There are only two main trials the state will

pay for; one is the verdict and one is for the sentencing, neither of these include the appeals to

keep the convicted person into maximum security.

The capital punishment gives people the punishment for the crime people may have

committed. For example, 49% of people believe that if someone had committed a crime so

heinous and disturbing that people believe they deserve the punishment of it. If someone has a

severe criminal case, people who pay taxes pay for these criminals to live for free. Secondly, this

allows the victims family to get the justice they wished to have. When there is someone in a

family who has passed from a murder, most of the families want the killer to feel like same pain

as the other person had felt. Finally, many people believe that race is not an issue when it comes

to this subject. Whatever crime the person has committed, their race would not be an issue for

what they had done to something or someone.

Secondly, scientific studies have failed to show that executions deter people from

committing crimes. The word deter creates a meaning of trying to scare off the idea of someone

committing the crime to try to prevent it. Many states without the death penalty have lower

murder rates such as Delaware, Maryland, Minnesota, etc. Each of the smaller states that has this

law becomes proportionate with a few of the larger states to make the statistics even out. 75% of

crime rates have gone down since 1990. The states with the death penalty have much higher

crime rates in neighborhoods. A study shows that 88% of criminologists believe that this is not a

deterrent that would be effective to homicide. Although, some crimes are so heinous and

completely wrong where they deserve capital punishment, the likelihood of it happening is very

rare because people can wait up to 15 years on death row. Those statistics show that about 1 in
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120 people would end up getting death row, which is almost just one percent. This process is

extremely lengthy when awaiting a trial due to all the anxiety that could possibly build up from

being held in any certain kind of place for too long.

Finally, people who may be mentally unstable would get the capital punishment with no

hesitation. Since 1977, one out of ten people have been mentally ill according to Amnesty

International. Many of the defendants are unable to participate in their trial in any meaningful

way and appear to be unfeeling, cold, or unengaged. There have been multiple cases where

people have been forced to take any certain medication to prove that they are competent to be

executed. For example, the Supreme Court has created a law that states that no proven person

who is clinically mentally ill shall be executed, even though Oregon has still not passed a law

that follows this which makes it legal to execute the mentally ill. In trial, they could prove to a

judge that they are mentally unstable that would cause them to be not found guilty by reason of

insanity. For example, if they were a schizophrenic and their mind was altered during the crime

they should go to a facility rather than death penalty. Even on the controversy, if the person had

the intent to harm while they knew what they did was wrong then they would await trial for a

judge to prove if they were mentally unstable during the act.

In conclusion, the death penalty is not anywhere close to effective when it comes to

trying to put an end to crime. The expenses of just trying to end one person's life is extremely

expensive. They may have done something so horrific, but there could still be a much more

simple and humane way to handle this kind of crime. Secondly, the deterrence of showing the

public this terrible act does not affect anything about crime rates decreasing. Criminals differ

from this act and tend to stay away from hearing this. Finally, people who are mentally ill have
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no say in what happens to their own lives. They are forced into choices that they didn’t make and

hopefully someday, this all will change.